Written evidence submitted by Eileen Langsley

I have been a professional sports photographer for over thirty years and the bulk of my business has been the sale of licences for the reproduction of my images to books and magazines; latterly I have moved increasingly towards digital use of my work and am constantly frustrated by the thieving, looting, downloading and illegal use of my images especially as I have so little protection under the law.

· I need the law to recognise that I have created these images and own them. In most circumstances it costs me a great deal of money to attend events here and abroad. Illegal use of my images along with the stripping of metadata and IPTC information is costing me a great deal of money. Why should someone be able to strip out all the data that connects those images to me and then use them in their own way, often earning money from the theft.

· I work in several sports where young competitors are involved (Gymnastics, Figure Skating, Swimming etc). I am very careful about how I supply these images and check that usage it appropriate. Once my images have been stolen there is little I can do to ensure this.

· MOST IMPORTANT. When I receive media accreditation to work as a photographer at an event, I am obliged to sign a document, agreement or contract stating that I will agree to the use of the images in accordance with the requirements of that particular sport. Failure to comply means that my accreditation is banned the next time I make a request.

· If my photographs are looted from my website and blog, the copyright and credit line can be removed and the images used in any way that the thief see fit. If these ‘Orphan Works’ images are used pornographically or in a derogatory way there is nothing I can do about it but of course any official who recognises the image as mine, will make sure that I am the one who suffers, not the perpetrator. Why should photographers have to be treated this way? My website and blog are my ‘shopfront’; why should ‘shoplifting’ from these be seen as acceptable when it is a crime in other areas of life?

· I regularly trawl the web using various image searches and constantly finding that my images that have been converted to Orphan Works and displayed/offered for sale as if they are the work of the perpetrator of the theft. Both my website and blog have copyright notices posted everywhere and my terms and conditions are also there for all to see. The law needs to protect my interests in the way that it does for other people. My colleagues in other countries are afforded much more protection and sanctions are in place for this kind of crime.

· The Hargreaves report doesn’t seem to address the whole issue of education and information so that from a young age children are taught that the Web is not a totally free resource and what is meant by copyright. We are allowing youngsters to grow up in the belief that while shoplifting/stealing etc is wrong it is alright to steal images.

I trust that the committee will look very carefully at these issues and come to a realisation of the deep unfairness that lies behind the new initiatives.